This site uses technical, analytics and third-party cookies.
By continuing to browse, you accept the use of cookies.

Preferences cookies

Machiavelli’s heritage discussed at UCLA’s Symposium (May 17, 2013)

On the 500th anniversary of Machiavelli’s The Prince and the 50th anniversary of its Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, UCLA hosted the seminar “From Earthly Pleasures to Princely Glories in the Medieval and Renaissance Wolds”.
The conference was organized by Fondazione per l’Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane, Australian Institute of Art History of the University of Melbourne, and the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, in cooperation with the Italian Cultural Institute. It is the second of a series of scientific and cultural events devoted to the Italian Renaissance in the quincentenary of Machiavelli’s The Prince, the first one being held in Melbourne last February.
Using The Prince and the extraordinary luxuries of the Italian Renaissance court as a point of departure, the conference reflected upon the universal experience of the aesthetics of material culture and everyday life. What constitutes luxury and endows objects and activities with the qualities of beauty and value? What is pleasing to the senses and how is art and artistic expression experienced and appreciated by people of all segments of society throughout Europe and beyond, during the Middle Ages and Renaissance? In keeping with the celebratory spirit of the occasion, this conference was organized around the broad themes relevant to revelry, merriment and delight.
Consul General Perrone addressed the participants at the opening underlining the modernity of Machiavelli’s political thinking and its profound impact over the centuries in the development of political science.